Mar 25, 2008

There are a few different types of players in World of Warcraft. Okay, maybe even more than 'a few'. You've got your AFKers, your Twinks, your PvE divas, your Farmin' Fools, your DPS-peeners, your Lootwh--... -lovers, your Carebears, your Roleplayers and a whole host of others.

Listing them (and defining the stereotypes) has been done by bigger and better bloggers than I. To great, amusing affect, I might add.

Today, however, is devoted to one of my favorite sub-classes of the Warcraftian race. Far from amassing wealth and garnering the uber uber l33t reputation that so many crave, these are the brave men and women who farm, farm, farm some more, and then still end up poor at the end of the day. In fact, they'll usually come out with less gold than they went in, and it's all for the sake of some elusive green, blue, purple or crazy consumable that you've never even heard of! Yes, I'm talking about the devoted Tradeskiller, that person who only comes to Heroic UB with you because she really, really needs another Primal Nether.

Specifically, we're here for the education and edification of those crafty courtesans of the chemical concoctions, those magnificent mixers of myriad mounds of marrows - Alchemists! Listen up, my fellow finders of non-ferrous fronds, because I'm about to tell you all about eleven great, rare(ish) Outlands recipes that you never knew you could have.

Do you have your gloves on and your safety goggles in place? Okay, then. Let's hit the scrolls.

Part 1 - Solo-Source:

The first half of this list are the recipes that can be farmed by killing non-Elite mobs in non-instanced Outlands environs. They're (relatively) fast, easy, and often come with some great farming side-benefits. Though you'll see some crazy low drop rates on sites like Thottbot and WoWHead, remember that these recipes only show up for an Alchemist that doesn't already know the potion. Realistically, you can expect to see something more like a ~5% drop rate on all of these solo-source recipes.

The Mobs: The first of the 6 Major Resistance Potions, this recipe is a relatively easy farm from the etherial casters that hang out all around the wreckage of Oshu'gun. These level 66-67 mobs specialize in Arcane magic, shooting you with Arcane Bolts and occasionally doing an annoying Blink to end up about 15 yards behind you. They have a maximum of 5000 hit points, so they go down very quickly against a level 70 toon.

Fringe Benefits: The Arcanists and their local compatriots, the Vir'aani Raiders, drop some good cash and a metric butt-ton** of Netherweave Cloth. At 10-11 silver and 1-3 Nethercloth per kill, just one circuit around a boulder will net you about 2-3g. Now, add in a grey vendor item every 10 kills or so and a green every 15-20 kills, and you're making good money. But there's more. Vir'aani mobs have a chance to drop the Oshu'gun Crystal Powder Samples that the Halaani love with an unhealthy fervor, and all around the kill area are crystal spawns that you can loot for Oshu'gun Crystal Fragments. These are reputation items that you can turn in for Consortium rep from Neutral to Friendly.

The Mobs: The Major Holy Protection Potion is, ironically, farmed from demonic elementals in the southern Forge Camp on the Ogri'la Plateau. Now, first thing's first - in order to even reach this spawn location, you will need to either have a flying mount or get the rare, kind pansy goth emo mage to summon you there. I'm not sure that I recommend the trip through hell, personally.

The Abyssal Flamebringers are scattered throughout the Forge Camp, interspersed with Vile Fire-souls. In what is probably not a stunning revelation, I'm going to tell you that they do a healthy dose of fire-element damage, first from a fire aura that tics for about 150 damage on a toon with negligible fire resistance and then from a ~3-second cast 'meteor' spell that will come crashing down on your head for about 800 damage. They do swing their meaty fists, too, but the melee damage is not going to break many people's heads (~2-300 against a cloth wearer).

Most notably, however, these guys are completely immune to fire damage. If you're planning to bring a fire mage, like Livaeya, then you need to stop that right now. Masochist.

Fringe Benefits: You won't get much in the way of non-recipe jollies from the Abyssal Flamebringers, but they do drop Apexis Shards. Ignore the place where WoWHead and its ilk mention Motes of Shadow. That is not true, any more, much to my eternal sorrow. However, if Motes are your goal, then you should definitely put some smack down on the other mobs that will be running around your Abyssals, the Vile Fire-souls. They drop Motes of Fire like a nub 2-Holy-Priest Arena team drops ratings. (That's a lot, okay?)

Warning: This region can get pretty heavily farmed by daily questers killing all the demons in the area, so avoid it during high-traffic hours.

The Mobs: Oh, man. These mobs are a riot! The Shadow Council Warlocks ring three strange obelisks just behind the ramparts of Legion Hold (plus two patrollers, but who cares about them?!). There are about four per giant-phallic-symbol, and let me tell you... it's more than enough. These guys spawn like rabbits on crack with intravenous Viagra - I kid you not. Four to five toons can be farming these twelve little mobs, and not a single one will run out of fodder for his blades / spells. In fact, at times, you can barely grab your loot before you're being attacked by two new spawns. Now, add in the level 68-69 Elite that circles the area, and you're in for one wild farming ride.

Fringe Benefits: Wild, but lucrative. Not only do the Warlocks drop about 11 silver and 1-3 Netherweave Cloth per kill, but they also have a great drop rate for Aldor reputation items. You can come out of a 45-minute farming session with around 50 Marks of Sargeras and 3-7 Fel Armaments. They're great rep if you need them, and great cash if you don't. Win-win makes me happy!

Oh, but wait... these mobs don't drop just one measly recipe that you want, my fine fellow Alchemist...

The Mobs: Well, with four mob types, you've got the luxury of picking and choosing who you kill. The guardians are your run-of-the-mill angry, orcish melee mobs. They seem to be allergic to huge, honking balls of fire, as Liv's spells flattened them very easily. Imps are fire-based casters with nice, low hit points. One Mind Blast crit sends the little buggers to demon'la or... whatever. The Tinkerers are Broken and the Smiths are those messed-up mechano-undead-demon guys that like to wander around with drills instead of hands. They tend to travel together in packs of three, so take that with whatever caution it deserves. Also, although I never tried it myself, I hear tell that the Tinkers are immune to Fear, if that's your particular flavor of crowd control.

Fringe Benefits: These guys pretty much have all the glory of the Shadow Council Warlocks. They all drop around 10-12 silver, 1-3 Netherweave Cloth, and some of the Aldor rep items that we so love. They have identical percentage chances for these loots, apparently, so expect the same peripheral take that you got from the guys in Legion Hold. Finally, if you happen to have a friend who is a Blacksmith, bring them along for their own tradeskill loving, as the Deathforge Guardians have a good chance to drop the Plans: Khorium Pants.

The Mobs: In typical Bloodelf fashion, these guys are soul-sucking anti-paladins, alarmingly not-quite-wussy casters, and melee with an annoying tendency to eat your mana. They are all level 68-70 and not terribly tough, but with a lot of wanderers and some mounted units, they can be a little bit of a pain. The spell damage they can deal is mainly arcane, but as long as they aren't bugged out, they shouldn't pose a serious danger to a level 70 toon.

Fringe Benefits: Well, if the Aldor rep items weren't your preferred flavor, then I think you'll like these guys and gals a lot more. The Eclipsion mobs drop Sunfury Signets and Arcane Tomes for Scryer reputation in addition to the usual 1-3 Netherweave Cloth and about 14-16 silver. If you're a skinner, you can also take a violent paw to the Eclipsion Dragonhawks that dot the area. They drop a great rarespawn leatherworking item, Wind Scales, that you can send to your favorite druid or just sell on the Auction House for 60g (or more) per stack.

Crazy, right? Great stuff? I know my heart gets all aflutter every time one of these drops. Yes, I am that much of a Tradeskilling geek; and, yes, Rhoelyn is going to get each and every one of these. In fact, I farmed up most of them in a few hours, last week. The only one she doesn't have, yet, is the Fel Mana Potion, and that's because I just found it when doing the research for this article. It's really, truly not painful. If you're not a killing class, then lure a friend over with some of the fringe benefits and get them to lend their DPS to your cause. There's more than enough to go around at any of these locations.

By the way, do you know why you want most of these potions, my dear Alchemist? Beyond their innate awesomesauce, five of the six Major Arcane Resistance Potions have a good chance to teach you the related Cauldrons. Can you resist a two-for-one deal like this?

That's the first half of the list. Next time, I'll show you the recipes that you can get with a group and an instance run. Sure, it's not as easy to get going, but the fringe benefits certainly go up in magnitude. Until then!

* Sorry, but that means you'll need to have The Burning Crusade expansion pack for this to be useful to you.** That's a European unit of measure. Don't worry if you haven't heard of it before. *deadpan* o_o